Ski construction



1. P. SIMONSEN El AL 2,195,136

March 26, 1940.

SKI CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 24, 1938 3 N 4 @A 8 WM we Ms W V m 7 Y m gm HARR/s, K/ECH, F05 75/ 3 HA/PRAS FOP TH FIR rroR/vz ms.

a minimum displacement of the snow.

I 4 snow with minimum contact therewith as the 5 ski that characteristic of turning maneuvers.

Patented Mar. 26, 194-0 7 w SKI CONSTRUCTION invrn P. srmons n,Glendale,-v and George R. Harman, Los Angeles, Calif., assignors to Airlocksen Ski Products, Inc, Beverly Hills,

Califl, a corporation of California Applicationoctober 24, 1938,'Serial No. 236,638 g 7 Claims. (o1.2so- -11.1a) o Our invention relates to improvements in skis and the like with particular reference to brake means for preventing rearward movements of with the snow tends to be restricted to the point of the V at the rear end of the blade; When the ski is skidded sidewise on aturn, the'trailing blade presents an upwardly inclined leading edge to cause theblade to ride lightly over the snow with minimum resistance. Any substantial resistance at such a time invites an acc'de'nt skis.

Climbing snow-clad slopes with conventional skis is undulytiring because a ski slides back at each forward stride of the wearer. To minimize such rearward ski movement'various automatic braking attachments have hitherto been sug- 1'0 gested in the art, most offthe devices incorporating a pivoted brakemember that swings downward into engagement with the snow onbackward movementof the ski and trails over the surface of the snow on forward movement of the 55' ski.. The present invention is directed to animproved braking meanso'f this general type.

One object of the invention is to provide a brake blade for the rear of a ski that will pene-- trate the snowan'dj' withdraw therefrom with by disturbing the wearers' balance. I Another object in mind is to favorpenetration of the snow-by such expedients as cutting back the rear end of the blade from the center line, by-beve'li'ng the rear edge, and by scalloping the end of the blade to form a series of rounded blade portions. 5

A further object is to provide a" blade having an efie-ctive downward position sufficiently --inclined to the rear to cause theblade toswing upwardly by inertia when the wearer makes'a square-jump turn. In other'words, we propose to have the center of gravity of the blade rearward of the blades pivot-axis whenthe blade is inrits lowermost position.

Another object is to provide a blade that'in efiective disposition will react to rearward force from the ski by directing a force component downward against the deeper layers or snow beneath the ski. I

A feature of our invention is the conception that these three objects may be achieved by employing an arcuate brake blade having a configuration approaching the curvature of the downi ward path traversed by the rear end of the ski in hill climbing. It is to be noted that the forward portion of the ski normally engages the *snow first on a forward stride uphill and then firvesqas a fulcrum about which the ski'rotates- 35 downwardly; I

1A third object ofour invention is to provide a relatively light brake blade that in one position will engage the snowwith maximum effectiveness and in another position will trail over the an automatic latch for holding the blade elevatedabove the show when desired; Inthe preferred form of our invention a fractional latch' is employed, adapted to engage the blade autodeterrnine'dlangle, the latch being adapted toreleasethe blade when theblade is jarred downwardly in a relatively violent manner by the I wearer. l I

A still further object of our inventionis to provide shock-absorbing means to cushion the downward movement of the brake blade and to protect the end of the ski from the blade. A feature of the preferred form of our invention in which yielding'means is employed'tourge'the blade downwardly is that the shock-absorbing means resiliently opposes said yieldingn'ieans when the blade is in its downward position whereby on a square jump turn the sliock ab sorbirig means-initiallyworks with the inertia of the blade to'raise the b lade' in opposition to said yieldingmeazis. I

.Inachieving the various objects recited above, we'proposeto incorporate'our' invention made vice to be' sold separately" as a. ski accessory, the

ski is moved forward. A fourthobjeotin mind. is to provide a ski brake which in its ineffective or upper position"wil1 ofier minimum frictional resistance to the normal lateral skidding-of the A, feature of our invention is that the above third and fourth -obiects maybe attained by making the brake blade V-shaped in transverse section. The V.-shaped blade may be made rela- 5 tively thin since diverging portions of the blade support each other. When such a blade is in efiective snow-engaging position, the two diverging wings provide exceptional purchase to oppose rearward movement of the ski, and; onthe other hand, whenthe blade is trailed'behind conventional skis.- I v I li'he above and other objects will be apparent in I the detailed description to follow, considered with the accompanying drawing.

. the ski on forward movement of the ski. contact matically whenever the blade is raised to-a predevicefbeing adapted for ready attachmenthto Another object of our invention is to provide.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation on a reduced scale of I a ski incorporating our invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the rear end of a ski showing an embodiment of our invention mounted thereon, the blade being in its effective position;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of a ski showing our invention with the blade in effective position;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the blade taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of the blade taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section through the hinge of the blade withthe blade in latched position; and- Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a latch member employed in the preferred form of our invention.

Our invention includes a bracket or hinge member generally designated ID by means of which a brake blade generally designated I I may be mounted for pivotal movement on the rear end of a ski I2. It is contemplated that both the blade and the bracket will be made of aluminum or similar light but sturdy material.

The bracket III has a forward base portion I4 adapted to overlie the upper surface of the ski, which base portion may be U-shaped in plan, as shown in the drawing. This base portion I 4 is adapted to be attached to the ski I2 by a plurality o-f screws, for example, a forward pair of screws I5 and a rearward pair of screws I6. The bracket I0 has a pair of spaced bracket arms I8 overhanging the rear end I9 of the ski, the bracket arms carrying a pintle or hinge pin 20.

In the preferred form of our invention shockabsorbingmeans are provided to resiliently limit the downward movement of the blade ll. Such shock-absorbing means may comprise, for example, a pair of angular leaf springs 22 inserted between the ski and the bracket I0 in engagement with the rearward screws IS, the ends of the leaf springs extending downward in spaced relation to the rear end I9 of the ski. These leaf springs are designed not only to protect the end of the ski from impact by the blade but also to cooperate with the blade in a manner to. be described later. v

The blade II is rotatably connected to the bracket ID by a pair of ears 25 engaging the hinge pin 20 inside of the bracket arms I8. In the preferred form of our invention the ears 25 constitute portions of a pair of reinforcing ribs 26 integral with the body of the blade ll, each of the ribs providing a shoulder 21 to cooperate with the corresponding leaf spring 22.

As viewed in side elevation, the blade I I in the,

' arcuate character. A straight flat blade penetrating the snow substantially endwise in such a curved path would displace more snow than necessary, the hole in the snow created by the penetration being substantially larger in transverse section than the blade. If, however, the

rear end of the ski follows a perfect circle in its .downward movement and the curvature of the blade coincides with the circle, the blade will penetrate the snow with substantially no more displacement than represented by the thickness of the blade. It is recognized, of course, that there is no mechanical precision in the arcuate movement of the rear end of the ski, but nevertheless forming the blade with an arcuate configuration will minimize snow displacement to a substantial and significant extent.

We believe from our. experiments that the braking action of the blade is reduced to an undesirable extent if the blade has a curvature for moving into and out of the'snow with minimum snow displacement. We; prefer, therefore, a blade of less than the curvature that is optimum for snow displacement. The preferred curvature indicated in the drawing will cause a slight initial forward displacement of the snow at the upper portion of the blade as the ski is moved forward with the blade. buried in the snow. Because our blade is V-shaped it readily noses into the snow to the slight degree required with no significant resistance to the forward movement.

of the ski. On the other hand, a blade that is flat or rectilinear in cross-section requires appreciable force to make the necessary initial snow displacement. In other words, a buried blade that is not V-shaped in cross-sectional configuration would provide initial resistance to the forward stroke of the ski to an undesirable extent, the resistance being noticeable because not encountered in the use of conventional skis.

A further advantage of the curved configuration of the blade is that when the blade in its effective position is pressed. backward by the ski, the pressure of the blade against the snow includes a downward inclined component force as indicated by. the arrow 28 in Fig. 5. This feature is important because such a component is directed towards the ground or the lower compact layers of snow providing relatively great resistance to rearward movement of the blade.

In the preferred form of our inventionshown in the drawing, theblade is V-shaped in transverse section and, as may be understood by reference to Fig. 4, the blade by virtue of such shape in effect comprises two diverging wings 30. The V-shaped configuration of the blade not only contributes strength but also is significant in the functioning of l the blade.

ration increases the effectiveness with which the blade engages the snow. When a straight fiat blade in effectiveposition is pressed backward against the snow, the snow tends to escape around the edges of the blade, only a relatively narrow and short body of snow being compressed by the rearward blade movement. In a blade providing diverging wings, however, the tendency of the snow to escape around the edges of the blade is minimized, and backward movement of the blade against the resistance of the snow tends to In the first place, we have found that the V-shaped configupress the snow into a compact tapering body havingthe configuration indicated by the dotted line 3! of'Fig. 4. Another functional advantage of the V-shaped configuration is that such a configuration provides a point 33 on the rear end of the blade. When the blade is dragged forward To favor penetration of the snow by the blade,-

especially when the snow has a resistant crust, the'rear edge of the blade may be cut back from jareaiec the center line of the blade so that the. centerof the blade will penetrate first; In additionmwe preferv tobevel the edge of the bladeito form -a cutting edge, and to notch or. scallop that edge to form a central curved bla'de'portion flanked by curved portions 36 and 31 disposed torpenetrate the snow successively.

While the blade vll may be designed to have an effective inherent tendency to swing'downward into effective braking positionby virtue of its own weight, we prefer to incorporate. in the pivotal mounting of the blade yielding means to urge the blade continuously downward. For example, such yielding means may comprise a helical spring. 46 around the hinge pin 20,- one endlilbf. the spring being anchored in a complementary aperture in the blade and the other end M of the spring being-anchored in a second aperture in the bracket 10.

' The automatic latch that may be incorporated in the preferred form of our invention may be of any character but preferably willoperate by frictional engagement whereby the latch will automatically engage the blade whenever the blade is raised to a desired latching angle and whereby the latched blade may be released at the will of the operator by simply stomping the ski to jar the blade downwardly. We have found that a. latch of the desired operating characteristics may be had by employing a latching cam of spring metal having the configuration shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The latching cam has a stem 4? apertured to receive a rivet 48 by means of which the latching cam is mountedon the inner face of one of the blade ribs 26. The latching cam has an aperture 49 embracing the hinge pin 29, the forward end of the latch having a normal flexure yieldingly departing from the plane of the stem ll. The forward end of the latching cam has a flange 50 having a gradually inclined portion 5i and a relatively steep-shoulder 52.

For latching operation the cam may be disposed,

for example, to engage the end portion 44 of the wire spring 49. To protect the spring from lines in Fig. 5, or may be in trailing disposition as shown in dotted lines at 34 in Fig. l. I

If the blade is in trailing position, frictional resistance engendered by the end of the blade alightin on the snow will be insignificant because of the point contact. On making a square-jump turn, the hinge spring 40 will tend to swing the blade downwardly. Because of. inertia, however,\ the sharp downward movement of the skiat the end of the square-jump turn will cause the blade to swing upward towards the trailing position. .It is also to be noted that centrifugal force incidental to the turn will assist the upwardmovement of the blade.

If the blade is at latched position at the beginning of a climb, the wearer may release the blade to the desired trailing position by simply stomping the ski to jar the, blade downwardly. In

moving to trailing position as the ski slides forward and automatically swinging to eflfective position' whenever-the ski starts to move rearwardly, the rearward movement being quickly and effectively .terminatedby the blade. At theend of a climb the wearer may cook the blade into latchedposition by simply raising. the forward end of the skito an angle and pressing the blade downwardly and forwardly against'the' snow.

come within the scope of our appended claims.

. We claim as our invention:

1. A ski accessory comprising: a bladepmeans for hingedly mounting the blade on the rear of a ski to swing between a downward snow-engaging position and an upper position out of the snow,

said blade being V-shaped in transverse section whereby back pressure of the blade against the snow will compact a relatively long tapering body of snow, and whereby the blade when dragged forward along the snow will tend to contact the snow only at a restricted central area at the tip of the blade; and yielding means to -urge said.

blade towards its downward position.

2; A ski' having: a blade; means hingedly. mounting the blade on the rear of the ski to swing between a downward snow-engaging position and an upper position out of the snow, said blade being of arcuate configuration in side profile to minimize snow displacement when moving endwise into or out of the snow, said blade being V-shaped in transverse section whereby back pressure of the blade against the snow will com pact a relatively long tapering body of snow; and yielding means to urge the blade to its downward position, the end. of said blade being cut back from the center line of the bladeand being beveled to favor snow penetration.

3. A ski accessory comprising: a blade; means for hingedly mounting the bladeon the rear of a ski-to swing between a downward snow-engaging position and an upper rearwardly inclined position' out of the snow, said blade being of arcuate configuration in side profile to minimize snow displacement when moving endwise intoor out of the snow, said blade being V-shaped in transverse section whereby back pressure of the blade against the snow will compact a relatively long tapering body. of snow: and a latch'to releasably hold said blade at said upper position, said latch being adapted to be opened by a relatively severe downward jar.

l. A ski having: a mounting the blade onthe rear of the ski to swing between a downward snow-engaging position and an upper position out of the snow, said blade being of arcuate configuration in side profile to minimize snow displacement when moving endwise into or out of the snow; yielding means to urge said ski towards said downward position:

and shock-absorbing means on the rear end of the ski to cushion the downward movement of the blade. v

5. A ski having: a blade; and means hingedly mounting the blade on the rear end of the ski-to swing between a lower snow-engaging position and an upper position out of the snow, said blade being V-shaped in transverse section with a forwardly pointed apex whereby in the lower position ofthe blade back pressure of. the blade against blade; means hingedly the snow will compact a relativelylong tapering body of snow, and whereby in the upper position of the blade the apex of the blade will drag on the snow.

6-. A ski having: a blade; and means hingedly mounting the blade on the rear end of the ski to swing between a lower snow-engaging position and an upper position out of the snow, said blade having the shape in transverse section of a forwardly pointed V with rectilinear legs whereby in the lower position of the blade back pressure of the blade against the snow will compact a relatively long tapering body of snow, and whereby in the upper position of the blade the apex of the blade will drag on the snow.

'7. A ski accessory comprising: a blade; and

means 'for .hingedly mounting the blade on the rear of a ski to swing between a downward snowengaging position and an upper position out of CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,195,156. March 26, 19140.

IRVING P. SIMONSEN, ET AL.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 1, sec- 0nd column, line 27, for the word "fractional" read "frictionaland .that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case r in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this' 7th day of May, A. 19LLO.

Henry Van Arsdale,

(Seal) Acting Commissioner oi Patents. 

